


Tomb of The Nameless Prince

by shirukaze



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 02:44:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2332364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shirukaze/pseuds/shirukaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I can't get inspired to write more so I'm putting this already existing one up here kay? T_T</p>
    </blockquote>





	Tomb of The Nameless Prince

**Author's Note:**

> I can't get inspired to write more so I'm putting this already existing one up here kay? T_T

**Title:** Tomb of the Nameless Prince  
 **Rating:** PG  
 **Word count:** 5796  
 _**Summary:** _ _An archaeologist accidentally uncovered a small tomb which could have belonged to a prince, yet devoid of the riches and signs that the resting place of a member of the royal family would normally have. A story of a search to discover the truth behind this unknown prince._

**Author's Note/s:**   
_Written for shojunniji for[Jun's birthday fic exchange](http://sakumoto.livejournal.com/277492.html) at the [sakumoto](http://sakumoto.livejournal.com) comm. _  
The prompt was _"Sho and Jun in ancient civilizations, preferably Rome or Egypt, or both."_ I will have to confess that this was one of the few prompts I thought I would not get lol. Simply because I really have no clue, zilch, on these civilisations. I tried my best though, researching like crazy, and man, it was pure madness. It was quite the challenge though, and I like challenges^^ Enjoy~

_**\- - - - -** _

In the depths of the Valley of the Kings, an archaeologist studied the entrance of what appeared to be the tomb of a small-time prince. A few months ago, he and his team had stumbled upon it by pure chance, as it rests within the shadow of the tomb of a Pharaoh.

Age had decayed the entrance, which had been covered by rocks and the likes. He wouldn’t even have known that there was an entrance there, had he not drop an important article he’d retrieved from the Pharaoh’s tomb and tried desperately to search for it.

"Good afternoon." A guard stationed nearby called out to him. "How goes it so far?"

"Not too good, I'm afraid."

"Tough one, eh?"

"Yeah..."

He frowned, his feet nudging the crumbling wall around the entrance, which looked more like a hole rather than a doorway that led down a staircase to a chamber which held secrets he had yet to solve.

His team had already cleared most of the debris that were blocking the way, and they had already discovered the single mummy that lay inside the modest tomb, which had clearly been built within a short time. The walls were covered with faded paintings that tell them the life story of this unnamed prince from his birth to his death.

And yet, there were so many things the archaeologist could not understand about him. Thoughts clamoured inside his head as he descended into the tomb.

He couldn’t confirm it quite precisely just yet, but he suspected that the person who laid in this tomb was the youngest of the many children of the nearby Pharaoh, therefore his existence was never a threat to potential successors of the position, therefore his tomb would be small, surely. This prince was not an important role to the kingdom. But this tomb was utterly devoid of finery and the likes, which bothered him.

It wasn't that robbers stole anything; he suspected there weren't any treasures to begin with.

True too, that he died at a young age of possibly around 18, and it might not have been enough time for him to have a wife and children, but for this prince to be completely isolated of any companions or even servitors...

The archaeologist frowned. Even the regular nobility had those who served them be buried in their tombs, to serve them in the afterlife.

_Why is this prince left in a tomb all alone? Had he done something to betray the Pharaoh? Yet, if it was so, why is his tomb standing within reaches of his father?_

The archaeologist shook his head as reached the last step and entered the chamber. He'd sent the mummy to be analysed, hoping to find out the cause of his death, but they had yet to get back to him.

He scrutinized the walls for the twentieth time probably, his eyebrows knitted close together. Here it was, evidence that here lies a prince of the great Pharaoh (vaguely interpreted as that at least), raised with love and given proper education. He was close to the Pharaoh and to his mother. Attempts had been made on his life but he had escaped them, only to still die as a young man.

The man frowned. He did not quite understand what they meant by him escaping the attempts. And they did not even bother to explain his death either. It felt as if they had taken out key parts of the story, leaving gaps to be filled.

The day had grown dark when he left the tomb, unable to discover anything more of the mysterious prince. As he escaped into the cool evening air, he realised that a shadowed figure stood some distance away, before the entrance. Stopping short, tales of curses coming back to him, his heartbeat sped up a little.

Squinting, he saw that it was just that young historian (well, more like an intern who was attached to Sho’s project in the Pyramids), who’d been having several heated discussions with the archaeologist’s group, and especially with the older man himself, regarding the occupant of the tomb.

“Can you not do that?” He said irritably to the younger man, who shrugged casually.

“Aren’t you used to surprises in your line of work? Anyway, I wanted to take a look inside-”

“Look, I’m telling you, this one’s a prince. I told you already.”

“And I told you that that can’t be correct. No prince’s tomb would be as empty or isolated as this from the century he was believed to be born in. I’ve come here myself this time around to affirm that.”

The archaeologist grinded his teeth, taking a deep breath to stop himself from throwing a flurry of insults at the primly historian-to-be. Once his temper was under control, he smiled at the younger man in his most polite way and said,

“Well then, it is getting late today, so I would suggest that you come here tomorrow morning instead.”

The intern raised an eyebrow, lifting up a torchlight in his hand. “Won’t this work? I rushed down as soon as I could today, so it would be good if I could enter today.”

The archaeologist shook his head. “Not worth the risk. You might stumble and damage something in there. If you really want, please free up a slot for tomorrow morning. I won’t be able to spare you more time than that.”

The historian looked at him, irritated, opening his mouth as if to reply back with something that was most likely impolite, but seemed to decide against it as he said,

“…Alright. I’ll try.”

\-------

The Prince had changed a lot lately, his attendant had thought. _Sure, he was more mature than other children of his age, but he'd been more bubbly and cheerful. Now he wouldn't let me even help him comb his hair or touch him in any way._

Sho stood dutifully by the Prince’s side as he read the message on the papyrus, biting the edge of his thumbnail, clearly thinking hard.

"The message from Her Majesty seems to be troubling you, my Prince."

The youngest of the Royal Children sighed, and laid the message down, turning back to Sho. "The vizier is stirring up trouble again. I swear, that old coot will get what's coming to him some day."

Sho shook his head. "He is but an old man from your Grandfather's time."

"That was my Father's reason too." The prince bent over, stretching out his arm to reach under his desk, pulling out an empty papyrus sheet, followed by his own reed pen and inkpot. After a slight moment as he pondered over how to reply, he began writing down. “Just get rid of him already,” the prince muttered.

As he wrote, Sho resumed his observations on the Prince.

Even from a few years back, his parents would consult him regarding several state of affairs, in which he would listen to and gave his opinion on the matter. They knew he would take it far more seriously than his older siblings. Sho had wondered for some time whether His Majesty might have even considered Prince Jun his heir, having not named anyone after him despite his old age. The oldest prince was a goon, after all. He’d just ruin the kingdom.

"Can you believe that man wanted us to raise the tax on our people? Is he blind? Can't he see how hard the people are trying to survive in the bloody drought? My father really ought to stop entertaining him." The prince said after he was done writing, lifting the reply up for Sho.

"Such words should not be said in the open, Prince."

"I know," scowled Prince Jun. "Are you taking it or not?"

The prince's companion leaned over, and sensed him stiffening ever so slightly as he did so.

"Pardon me, Prince." Pressing his lips together in a tight line, he took the papyrus and straightened up again.

"Go, pass it to the messenger." The prince did not turn to look at him as he spoke.

Sho bowed and left the room.

~.~

"I see he is as formal to you as ever."

"Don't be retarded, Kaz. He wasn't always that way."

"You haven't told me what changed him."

"Umm... Puberty?"

"He's not that much younger than you and I don't see you behaving that way."

"I'm different. His responsibilities are heavier. Hurry up and take it back to Her Majesty." He gave the boy a little push with his fist.

The messenger named Kaz, a new addition to the palace never knew the Prince Jun who was younger and cheekier. Sho shook his head and entered the Prince's room, as he was changing.

Both froze, before the Prince quickly turned around, away from Sho.

"Didn't I tell you to pass the message to the messenger?"

"I did. He was just outside."

The Prince's skin was pale due to the lack of activities suitable for him. He only makes the occasional hunting trips by the order of the King, who enjoyed them, and used these trips to bond with his children. _And he's too skinny,_ Sho thought as the Prince's collarbones stood out rather, exposed by the wide-collared white tunic that he wore.

_"Why don't we go swimming or fishing by the river?" Sho had asked him before. The Prince had shook his head. "I cannot swim. Don't make me go near places with water. Why are you suggesting it anyway?"_

_"Forgive my impertinence, Prince. It is not my place to voice my ideas to you." He had apologised. “I just thought that you might enjoy activities under the sun once in a while.”_

_“Fine thought, however, unnecessary_. _I don’t really have time to play around.”_

Prince Jun as a kid would have snapped up on any activites that Sho suggested. However, he'd changed since around a year, suddenly turning too old and too noble to be participating in these with a companion who was of lower blood than him.

_Why?_

“I told you that I don’t allow you to be around while I’m changing,” the Prince’s voice penetrated through his thoughts sounding annoyed.

_But it’s my duty. And…_

Something bothered Sho. Before the Prince had turned away, he’d thought he caught a glimpse of a rather long, thin, dark mark on the Prince’s belly.

_It looked like…_

Hoping the Prince wouldn’t be too offended, he walked quickly around the Prince to take a look at his belly, grabbing hold of the Royal Child by his arms so that he wouldn’t turn away.

“Excuse me, my Prince.”

“What are you doing?! I forbade you to touch me, or have you forgotten? How dare you-“ The Prince fought with Sho, struggling to free his arms. True enough, a long wound graced the Prince’s stomach, an unnatural sight that stood out very well on his skin.

“What is this, Prince? This is a wound that I am unaware of, one that I had not tended to.”

The Prince stopped struggling.

“Well, my Prince?” Sho asked, in a tone he had used when the Prince was younger when he demanded for an explanation whenever the Prince misbehaved. It seems that the tone still worked on the Prince even now. Instead of ordering for Sho to be taken away to be punished for going against his orders, much to Sho's own surprise and relief, the Prince hung his head down.

“It’s nothing…”

“This is _not_ nothing. This cut is unnatural. It’s not a scratch mark, you did not do this to yourself. What happened?”

“It’s nothing! It was on one of the hunting trips, you weren’t there, you’d gone to visit your parents, and someone just loosed their arrow accidentally, I suppose. It just brushed past me.”

“Whose arrow was it?”

The Prince shrugged. “Look, it was an accident.”

“No it isn’t.” Sho released the Prince’s arms.

 “Yes it is! Stop contradicting me Sho! You are over-reacting. This is exactly why I didn’t want you to know or see-”

_Ah. So he’d been avoiding me for this reason. How silly of the Prince._

Sho frowned. “Wait a minute, the hunt was recent…” _But the Prince had already begun avoiding me from a few months back._ He looked at the Prince, who avoided his eyes.

“Other things had happened before that, hadn’t they?” He’d suspected for a time that not everyone likes the Prince. He’d made enemies just by being close to His and Her Majesty. This looked like a warning, one out of many. “How many other things are you hiding from me?”

“…Get out.”

“Prince!”

“Get out! I’m not obliged to answer to you!”

“This is for your safety! I have a duty to uphold. If you will not answer me, Prince, I will go to His Majesty himself.”

The Prince’s eyes blazed. “You wouldn’t.”

“Yes I will.” Sho said stubbornly.

“Sho…” The Prince shook his head and sighed. He hesitated before he admitted, “Yes, there were other things… including that time when you got injured… The trap, remember that?”

He did. He'd stepped on a rodent trap on his way to the prince's room and couldn't walk properly for a couple of weeks. It had been strange that the trap had been laid where someone could have stepped on it easily, but Sho hadn't given it a second thought, thinking it was some servant's careless mistake.

The Prince knew people were after him. Sho should have known better. Of course he’d know. The prince was the King’s close advisor after all, unofficially. He was smarter than he looked.

It took some time for the Prince to recount some of the other incidents to Sho. Some of the Prince’s accidents chilled him a little, and made him wonder why he had not seen those before. And then he remembered that the Prince had distanced himself from him.

_Fool. Is he just accepting all these alone, waiting for the day where someone would kill him for real?_

Sho decided that even if the Prince refused his help, he would still stick close to the Royal Child, and try to get to the bottom of this. But before that…  
It was a nasty thought, thinking how these people could probably get away with murdering Prince Jun if they chose to.

_He needs extra protection._ Thinking that as he left the prince's room, he headed to the King's audience chamber, where he would be listening to the troubles or complaints from his people.

\-------

The archaeologist returned to the tomb the following morning, having spent the night before trying to dig up materials on the Pharaoh and what little was known of his twelve children based on the stories told by the people of Egypt, without much luck. He nodded at the security guard.

He was barely approaching the entrance when a voice said,

“Earlier than I thought."

The archaeologist turned around and found the intern standing behind him, looking at him in a calm manner.

“So are you.” He answered, frowning at the younger man.

“It cannot be helped. I wanted to get started as soon as possible." He stepped over the rubble that are mere remainders after they cleared the entrance, towards the archaeologist.

 “Look, it’s dangerous. We don’t know for sure what will come out of this tomb. I haven't even able to thoroughly search the place for traps. Just take my word for it.”

The youth looked at the tomb before looking at the archaeologist once more, a little scornfully. And then he turned to descend down the stairs. The older man sighed and followed, calling out,

“Alright. You can come. Just, follow me from the back. Honestly, I would prefer investigating the life of this person and the cause of his death. But instead, I'm here entertaining you.”

The younger person waited, looking a little complacent, as he walked around him to lead him down the stairs.

"Your investigation wasn't going anywhere anyway. Well, you can still do that if you want to, and just leave me alone while I look around at your so-called prince's tomb."

"Shut up. He _was definitely_ a prince."

As the archaeologist led the way down, a strange sensation came over him. It felt a bit like having butterflies in his stomach, when he waited to see whether he passed his driving exams years ago. He'd wanted his licence terribly bad, and when the envelope finally came, he'd refused to open it for three days.

For some reason, that feeling came back now and he could almost feel his body getting the shivers. He wondered whether it was an allergic reaction to something in there but then shook his head at the possibility. After all, he had already entered that place many times before. He reached the bottom of the steps, lamp in hand and waited for the other person.

_What made it different this time around?_

"Careful now, the last step has crumbled quite a bit."

The younger man apparently opted to skip out the last step and hopped down instead. The archaeologist grabbed him by an arm to steady him as he wobbled.

"Be careful! Don't do stupid things like that inside this kind of place. It's dangerous, to you and to the site. Don't damage anything here."

"Oh- Sorry..."

The older man looked at him carefully and realised that the young man's face had gone pale. "Hey, are you alright? You don't look good." The historian shook his head and pushed him forward, signalling him to press on. The archaelogist frowned, feeling a slight worry for the other man, but said nothing as he led on.

\-------

"You told my father." The prince's face was sullen as he said it, while Sho fanned him under the shade of a wide tree.

"Forgive me, but it is my duty."

"Bastard. Now look what you've done." He waved to the different points around them in which guards were stationed, but hidden. “Now I don’t even have a bit of private time.”  
“Yes you do,” Sho pointed out.  “You have time in your own bedroom.”

Prince Jun threw a nasty glare at him. “Don’t be such an ass, Sho. Even in the room, you are there are you not? He made you stay close to me.”  
Sho laughed and looked at the youth fondly, before softly saying,

“Yes, there’s me… Just me. From now on, I will always be by your side, my Prince.”

For a moment, the prince did look like his age, his cheeks turning red despite the sour look on it. “Shut up and stop being embarrassing. I know that.”

_So don’t get killed._

\-------

“I’m telling you. Look at these signs. These symbolise that of a child borne of royalty, and this person was male, so it’s a Prince.”

“But don’t you get it? There are no signs of him being a prince. Perhaps a distant cousin or so. But not a prince. There were no signs of riches, and I’m not saying they were burgled. It’s just simply because there never was any treasures, no signs of slaves that followed him to the afterlife, and this was still practised a lot during the century you said he seemed to have lived in."

“I still think he is a prince,” the archaeologist said stubbornly.

“Then, explain all these. No slaves, no riches, no mention of name. He’s just another unknown person. Isn’t that strange for someone of royal blood?”

The archaeologist sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's my point exactly. The truth of this prince's life was not clear from the beginning, therefore, we need to make more effort into finding out why. We need to find out what happened to this person that he died young."

"You won't find anything more than these."

“Man, aren’t you stubborn, you history freak?”

“You aren’t any better, old man.”

“Ouch! I’m not that old. Look, listen to me alright? There’s more to be discovered here.”

The aspiring historian to be scowled at him. “Fine, I’m going to look through this as thoroughly as possible and disprove that statement.” He slipped on gloves and began by searching the walls inch by inch in a tedious, methodical way that even the archaelogist would not have used. Predicting that this would take a long time, he sat on the ground cross-legged, before he gradually nodded off.

When he woke up, it seemed that the younger man had finished searching the walls and was now approaching the pedestal in the center of the room. The archaeologist asked him,

"You aren’t local right?"

The young man placed a hand over the pedestal where the prince had been lying on for centuries, and shook his head, glancing at the older person as if he had asked a stupid question, his hand tracing over the stone. The older man shivered, feeling an overwhelming urge to rip the other person away from it.

"Stop doing that."

"Eh?"

His hand was still on it. The archaeologist felt himself a slight tremor in his heart, and wondered if it was fear he felt for this annoying man. _But why?_ Attempting to pull himself together, he managed to say, "You… You might damage it. Didn't I say warn you?"

"Oh, yeah... Sorry." The younger man lifted his hand away, rubbing it with his other hand. The older man realised that he was trembling, his face pale with drips of sweat trailing down his forehead. Something gripped inside him at that moment.

_Strange. Somehow, why do I feel like this situation is something that feels right, yet something that I do not want at the same time?_

His head had also for some reason began throbbing, but deciding to ignore it, the archaeologist continued the conversation he had begun, "So where do you come from?"

The intern lifted his eyebrows. "Me? I've been around the world, changing schools as my parents shift from country to country. Now we are settled here."

"A transfer student then?"

"Yes, I suppose so. It’s been a few years, and I’m on my last year of the course now."

The older person watched as the other person dropped to the ground and began crawling around on his knees, searching through the lower parts of the pedestal,

After about half an hour, the younger man asked him,

“What about this line here? Have you seen it before?”

“Line?” The archaeologist walked towards him, and knelt down, squinting to the part he pointed, lying in the shadows. “Hmmm…”

“It’s not a crack, I’ve knocked on it. There’s something inside.”

The older man rummaged around his bag before he found his well-used gloves and suitable tools. It took another good half an hour before a small piece of the pedestal dropped out, along with a small, thin stone tablet. He caught it while he cursed at his own carelessness.

There were hieroglyphs carved into it. From what he could tell, there were two different passages on it, one above the other, and it was most likely fairly easy enough to interpret. But the archaeologist could tell from the movement of the shadows that it was getting late.

“Let’s head out shall we?” He said to the young man, who seemed to be beginning an awkward apology. “I’m bringing this with me back to my workshop.”

“Then, I’m coming with you.”

\-------

He raced down the passageways triumphantly. They’d managed to catch the culprit red-handed as he attempted to slip in a snake into the prince’s room while they were all not there, not knowing that Sho had set up spies to keep a look out just in case. It was the vizier’s son behind the incidents all along.

_Makes sense. He views the prince as a threat since the prince was set in kicking the vizier out of the loop. It would be a loss for the son, who would have been the next vizier in line._

Sho would now be able to tell the prince happily that there won’t be any more need for the guards. He would most certainly be jubilant to hear that.  
“Really?” The prince was frowning, as if he was unsure that he had heard correctly.

“Yes, my prince.”

Hearing footsteps running all over from outside the room, and loud whispers, he waved a hand towards the door.

“Listen to that, the guards are leaving and the servants have begun to spread the news around. The man will face the judgement of your father.”

The prince strode across the room towards the doorway, and peeked out. What he saw and heard there seemed to satisfy him. Closing the door, he turned back to Sho.

“Very good. Finally.”

“Yes, prince. Very good news, indeed.” Sho knelt on one knee. “Now you have nothing to worry about.”

“Indeed…”

The prince’s shadow loomed over him, as he walked closer. Sho looked up, and found lips which met with his, a light taste of sweet dates that lingered briefly in his mouth before the Prince, his cheeks slightly pink, straightened up, looked away and became haughty again.

“That- That was a thank you gift.”

Sho smiled a little, and reached out to grab the prince by the wrist, pulling him back down.

“I’m honoured. So, I can touch you now, right?”

~.~

Time seemed to fly quickly. It had seemed like ages since the arrest of the vizier’s son when it was only mere months. By right, the entire family should have been punished, but the prince had requested that the family be let off, and only the criminal was executed, whilst the vizier was finally dismissed of his position.

Sho felt blessed, spending the days serving the prince (and the sweet nights sharing the bed with him) and he had thought that if not forever, he’d wanted it to last for at least a very long time. Until the prince really had to settle down to make his own family at least. He grinned at the thought. The Queen had attempted to set the prince up with a cousin just a few weeks back.

"I have no intention of making a child, especially with a woman I don't know." Prince Jun had told her calmly.

"But Jun dear, a child of yours would surely be a great asset to our kingdom. He would be brilliant, just like you surely." The Queen gripped the arms of her chair, as her youngest child knelt before her, with Sho kneeling just from behind him.

"Absolutely not. Besides the woman you intend to marry me off to is a dimwit. Our child might turn out to be like her instead."

"Jun!" The queen sounded terribly shocked at his bluntness. She’d sent him off in disgrace for speaking in such a way, especially since the aforementioned cousin was standing by the Queen’s side, looking as if the Prince had slapped a plate full of mud right in her face.

"Would you not reconsider this, Prince?" Sho asked him as they walked back to his room. The prince turned around to scowl at him, and found that his companion was grinning.

"Oh, be quiet, would you?"

When they reached his room, Sho helped him remove his accessories. As he took off the beaded necklace around the prince's neck, the prince said to him,

"If I got married, you would no longer be needed by my side." He stiffened as Sho slowly removed the necklace, brushing his hands lightly against his collarbones.

"That's a terrible thought." Sho whispered, putting the necklace aside. His hands worked their way to the prince's wrists, where his bangles were. He could feel the prince growing rigid as he did so. "But you'll have to get married someday."

"Don't you want to stay by my side?" The prince coughed a little as he asked that. “And stop teasing me.”

Sho released his wrists and took the prince's hand into his, bending over as he kissed the back of it.

"Forever, my prince."

~.~

And so the days went by without much other interruption, the Queen having decided that the Prince was not ready for marriage just yet. It had been just about as normal as any other day, with the Prince eating his dinner with Sho, when he began convulsing. Sho stood up in alarm and went to the Prince’s side, holding on to him as he began throwing up both food and then, blood, groaning in pain.

The physicians, upon examining later on, concluded that it was not foul play; no poison had been involved. The prince was merely sick. Sho had sighed with relief, and continued to attend the prince as he rested in order to get better and recover.

Except that he didn’t.

 Sho could see it clearly, the glow of life in the Prince slowly dissipating, running away from him, day by day. The physicians now admitted that there was not much time left. The prince had a serious illness which they had never come across and declared that there was nothing anyone could do.

Sho gritted his teeth together.

_No. If it comes to the worst outcome, there is something left for me to do,_ he thought to himself determinedly.

As he was leaving the prince’s side for the night, the prince always tried to force himself awake whenever Sho was around, the sickly young man called out,  
“Sho.”

Sho flinched at the painfully weak tone, but dutifully turned around. The prince waved for him to approach, and he did so.

If he’d thought the prince was skinny before, now was nothing compared to it. He could see the shape of his bones clearly through the almost translucent skin. It hurts him seeing the prince like that, knowing the prince was experiencing an unimaginable amount of pain every second he was conscious.

As soon as he was within reach, the prince grabbed Sho's hand urgently with the little strength he had. "Promise me, Sho. Promise me that you won't come after me." It was as if he knew all along what Sho had been thinking.

Sho's lips were trembling as he pushed back his tears. He bit his lower lip, painfully hard as he tasted blood before he attempted to reply. Even then, his voice came out coarse.

"That's not how it goes, Prince. As a loyal servant, I will accompany you in the afterlife. Please, let me."

"That's ridiculous, Sho." He broke into a hacking cough, causing Sho to fumble around to fill a goblet of water for him to drink. When the cough subsided, Jun looked at the older person angrily. "I have no intention to claim your life. And you are not a servant."

“But I will do it.”

“Look, listen up, you idiotic bastard.” The prince croaked furiously, unaware that he was crying too as tears spilled from his eyes. “I said no, and I mean no!”

"I refuse to accept that." Turning away, Sho stormed out of the Prince’s room and into his own, refusing to argue further with the prince, biting the inner side of his cheeks, hoping anyone he passed by wouldn't notice the expression he wore on his face at the moment.

_Let me be with you, please._

~.~

Sho had been getting ready for his chores the next morning when the royal guards burst into his room, pointing their spears at him, and the captain stood nearest to him, his blade gleaming dangerously near Sho's neck.

“W-wait! What are you all doing?”

"Shoshan,” the captain called out his proper name, “You are now exiled from our kingdom, and may you, nor your body, ever enter this land once more in this life."

"No! Please, let me stay with the Prince through his last hours." Sho grabbed the man by his shoulders. "Please!" _They can’t do this. They can’t take me away from him._  
"Sorry, I'm just following orders here."

"I'm afraid you have to go." The Queen walked in, her steps slow but graceful, as the guards parted to make way for her to walk. "You dishonoured my son when the both of you fell in love with the other and shared his bed.”

Sho’s eyes widened with shock.

“He… told you? Majesty.”

She stopped in front of him, her eyes meeting his. Sho lowered his eyes, having read the emotions that she held in them; deeply pained and uncomfortably very much like his own, in a different way.

“If I had my way, I would have you executed, Shoshan, for touching a member of the royal family. You do not deserve a place at my son's side, for the grievous sin you have committed. Are you not aware of your own place?"

The Queen, despite her grief and despair, was terrifying as she raged. In normal circumstances, perhaps Sho might have found himself trembling under her wrath. However, Sho found that he no longer cared.

"Please my Queen, I just-" He swallowed the lump in his throat. _I just grew to love him, as so he did me._

"Let me stay by his side, please. Let me follow him to the after world."

"Jun will not have any companions following him to the afterlife. Even if you die after your lifespan is up, he will not have a single companion in his tomb. He will survive the afterlife on his own. For his sin of loving a man, and that of a lower class, he will pay too. A much higher price than yours, for that was his request."

When a royal person passes away, servants and slaves would go with him, as was the tradition, to keep him company and serve him in the afterlife. This punishment meant that the prince… would not have anyone, and would spend an eternity alone.

"No! Please, my Queen, don't do this to him-"

She slapped him on the cheek. At the pain, Sho saw the tears that ran down her cheeks.

"You don't understand... Do you not understand why he chose to reveal your relationship? Why he chose to die in disgrace?”

It finally sank in to him _. Because the prince did not want anyone to die for his sake_. That was what the prince is always like, after all. He would sacrifice, but not be sacrificed for.

The queen continued. “We all love him. But the one he loves the most is you. We are- He is doing this for your sake. Go, go and leave this land and your memories of him. He wants you to live a long life in his stead."

She paused for a while, looking downwards onto the ground. "You are lucky. I wish I could run away from this kingdom and forget him too." She whispered before leaving the room.

"That's not what I want..."

\-------

_The dead had admitted his sins of loving another man of a lower class_  
And took on the burden of a disgraced soul, whilst he was lying sick in bed  
For eternity, he will wander alone and without a name 

Both the intern and the archaeologist sat back, as they looked over the piece of translation that the archaeologist had decoded from the tablet.

“That’s it, then, isn’t it?” The younger man said quietly. “He died because he was sick.”

The archaeologist rested a gloved hand on the tablet.  “And the punishment for falling in love with another man, was isolation in the after-life.” He eyed the young man before him, warily.

_Strange, a story that seemed so familiar to him, yet one he had not come across in his years of scraping in the dirt of ancient ruins._

_Strange, that he could feel cold sweat break out of his skin when this person before him touched the pedestal._

_As if, he was afraid that this person would return to it._

_…Return?_

"Say..." The younger man began, looking directly at the archaelogist. "This may sound strange but I wonder..."

"Yes?"

"Have you... been waiting for me?"

\-------

_They met, one a servant and one the son of the King_  
They fell in love, one who served and one who was served  
Time passed by, one was healthy and the other was ill  
Death came, one was left behind 

_Waiting for the day they will meet again_


End file.
